Jonah Chapters

The Lord Sends Jonah To Nineveh

1 | •  ¹The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai, ²“Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach against it, because I have known its wickedness.” ³But Jonah decided to flee from the Lord and go to Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, found a ship bound for Tarshish, and paid the fare. Then he boarded it and went into the ship's hold, journeying with them to Tarshish, far away from the Lord.

⁴The Lord stirred up a storm wind on the sea, so a sea tempest threatened to destroy the ship. ⁵The sailors were frightened, and each cried out to his god. To lighten the ship, they threw its cargo into the sea.

⁶Meanwhile, Jonah had gone into the ship's hold, where he lay fast asleep. The captain came upon him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god. Perhaps he will be mindful of us and not allow us to die here.”

⁷The sailors said to each other, “Let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this disaster.” So they did, and the lot fell on Jonah.

⁸They questioned him, “So you are responsible for this evil that has come upon us? Tell us where you are from. What is your country, your nationality?” ⁹Jonah told them his story, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, God of heaven who made the sea and the land….”

¹⁰As they knew that he was fleeing from the Lord, the sailors were seized with great fear and said to him, “What a terrible thing have you done!” ¹¹“What shall we do with you now, to calm the sea?” The sea was growing more and more agitated.

¹²He told them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. It will quiet down, for I know this storm has come because of me.”

¹³The sailors still did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea had grown much rougher than before. ¹⁴Then they called on the Lord, “O Lord, do not let us perish for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood. For you, Lord, have done this as you have thought right.” ¹⁵They took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm again. ¹⁶The men were seized with great fear of the Lord. They offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

Jonah in the Belly of the Fish       

2 | ¹The Lord provided a large fish that swallowed Jonah. He remained in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

²From the belly of the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God:

³“In my distress, I cried to the Lord,

and he answered me;

from the belly of the netherworld

you heard my voice when I called.

⁴You cast me into the abyss,

into the very heart of the sea,

and the currents swirled about me;

all your breakers and your billows

passed over, engulfing me.

⁵Then I thought:

I have been cast out from your presence,

but I keep on looking to your holy temple.

⁶The waters engulfed me up to my throat;

all around me was the abyss;

wrapped about my head were seaweeds.

⁷I went down to the roots of the mountains,

the bars of the netherworld closed upon me,

but you brought my life up from the pit,

the Lord, my God.

⁸When my soul was fainting within me,

I remembered the Lord,

and before you rose my prayer

up to your holy temple.

⁹Those who worship worthless idols

lose your grace

¹⁰but I, with songs of praise,

will offer you sacrifices.

What I have vowed, I will make good—

deliverance comes from the Lord, my God.”

¹¹Then the Lord commanded the fish, which belched Jonah onto dry land.

The Conversion of Nineveh

3 | ¹The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: ²“Go to Nineveh, the great city, and announce to them the message I give you.”

³In obedience to the word of the Lord, Jonah went to Nineveh. It was a very large city, and it took three days just to cross it. ⁴So Jonah walked a single day’s journey and proclaimed, “Forty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed.”

⁵The people of the city believed in God. They declared a fast, and everyone, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

⁶Upon hearing the news, the king of Nineveh got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat down in ashes. ⁷He proclaimed throughout Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles, no people or beasts, herd or flock, will taste anything; neither will they eat nor drink. ⁸But let people and beasts be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call aloud to God and turn from his evil ways and violence. ⁹Who knows? God may yet relent, turn from his fierce anger, and spare us.”

¹⁰When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened upon them.

God Loves Everyone

4 | ¹But Jonah was greatly displeased at this and indignant. ²He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was in my own country? This is why I fled to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and full of love, and you relent from imposing terrible punishment. ³I beseech you now, Lord, to take my life, for now, it is better for me to die than to live.” ⁴The Lord replied, “What right have you to be angry?”

⁵Jonah then left the city. He went to a place east of it, built himself a shelter, and sat under its shade to wait and see what would happen to Nineveh. ⁶Then the Lord God provided a castor-oil plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade over his head and to ease his discomfort. Jonah was very happy about the plant.

⁷But the next day, God sent a worm at dawn, which attacked the plant and made it wither. ⁸When the sun rose, God sent a scorching east wind; the sun blazed down upon Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. His death wish returned, and he said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

⁹Then God asked Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the castor oil plant?” Jonah answered, “I am right to be angry enough to wish to die.”

¹⁰The Lord said, “You are concerned about a plant that costs you no labor to grow. Overnight, it sprang up, and overnight, it perished. ¹¹But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish right from left, and they also have many cattle. Should I not be concerned about such a great city?”